


the day i first met you

by jooheon



Series: benefits with friends [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Meetings, M/M, the faintest whiff of dorothea x ingrid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22953166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jooheon/pseuds/jooheon
Summary: At that moment her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her pocket. Upon glancing at the screen, she rolled her eyes.“What?” Ashe said.“It’s Sylvain,” Ingrid said. This name, too, was familiar. Sylvain was Ingrid’s childhood friend, and a frequent subject of her complaints. Ashe’s impression of him so far was that of a careless, thoughtless lout, and sure enough: “He said he doesn’t have his ID with him and he wants to use mine to swipe at the dining hall for a meal. Goddess, not again.”//Ashe's first encounter with Sylvain.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: benefits with friends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649488
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	the day i first met you

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking that I wanted to write kind of a sequel to the other sylvashe thing I wrote, with Sylvain as the POV character... but then I thought that I wanted to write this... so I wrote this instead haha. It was very quick and fun to write! Please enjoy!

“I swear, it’s like she can’t go even five minutes without begging me to let her do my makeup,” Ingrid groaned. “I tell her no thank you, but it’s like talking to a brick wall.”

Ashe hummed in agreement. “That does sound really annoying,” he said.

They were sitting at the tables outside the library’s reading room terrace, ostensibly to study. But, as usual, it had turned into less of a study session and more of a vent session. Ingrid was in Ashe’s freshman lit seminar, a mandatory class that was supposed to teach them how to properly write papers. Ashe had found it all very tedious, until the day Ingrid had somehow snuck an oblique reference to the Sword of Kyphon trilogy into a discussion about modern philosophy. He’d approached her after class to talk about the books, and they’d been fast friends ever since.

Though they’d initially spent most of their time together talking about medieval fantasy novels, lately they’d been commiserating about the various ways in which The College Experience™ wasn’t all it was hyped up to be. By now Ingrid had heard all about Ashe’s short-lived infatuations with various straight boys, and he was well up-to-date on the saga of Ingrid’s vain and unrelentingly extroverted roommate Dorothea.

“You could just let her do your makeup one time to shut her up?” he suggested now.

“Ashe, no,” Ingrid said sternly. “That would send the message that all her whining will get her what she wants in the end. I can’t let her win!”

“I guess you’re right,” Ashe said. “Then what are you gonna do about it?”

“Just never hang out with her ever again, I think,” Ingrid said grimly. “You’re so lucky your roommate is nice, Ashe.”

“Yeah, Ignatz is okay,” Ashe said. He’d only known the kid for about a month, and didn’t know him nearly well enough to extend the adjective ‘nice’ quite yet. ‘Harmless’ was more the vibe Ashe got. “He’s still pretty shy with me, though. I don’t know if I can really get close to him. It’s almost the opposite of you and Dorothea.”

“Yeah, if _only_ she were hard to get close to,” Ingrid sighed.

At that moment her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out of her pocket. Upon glancing at the screen, she rolled her eyes.

“What?” Ashe said.

“It’s Sylvain,” Ingrid said. This name, too, was familiar. Sylvain was Ingrid’s childhood friend, and a frequent subject of her complaints. Ashe’s impression of him so far was that of a careless, thoughtless lout, and sure enough: “He said he doesn’t have his ID with him and he wants to use mine to swipe at the dining hall for a meal. Goddess, not again.”

She swiftly typed out a response and sent it.

“So you told him no, right?” Ashe said.

“Well,” Ingrid said. “He’s already at the library. If he brings me a snack too, then I don’t really mind.”

“Ingrid!” Ashe said admonishingly. “You were just talking so tough about not letting Dorothea win! How is this any different from that? If you keep saying yes, he’ll keep thinking it’s okay.”

Ingrid looked a little abashed at that. “Yeah, but I barely know Dorothea… Sylvain is like family to me. He’s annoying, and he’s immature, and sometimes I think he’s more like a pet that I have to clean up after than a friend—”

“Do you even like him?” Ashe couldn’t help but wonder.

“—but I can’t just ignore him,” Ingrid concluded. “I guess it does make me a hypocrite. You’re right, Ashe. I told him he could come here and I’d lend him my ID, but I shouldn’t enable him.”

“Yes,” Ashe said encouragingly. “And if you say no, it’s really better for him in the long run, anyway.”

“That’s true,” Ingrid said. She straightened her shoulders looking determined. “I’ll tell him that!”

“Good for you,” Ashe said with a little laugh. “I admire the way you stick to your morals, Ingrid.”

It was then that a stranger arrived at the table. Tall and handsome, with vibrant red hair and thick black eyelashes, this was clearly not an actual college student, but a beautiful actor hired to play one on TV. Accordingly, Ashe gaped.

“Yo,” the stranger said, grinning. Ashe averted his eyes from his blinding smile.

“Sylvain,” Ingrid said, and Ashe nearly fell off the bench. This divine creature was the lout Sylvain??? “I am not lending you my student ID.”

“What?” Sylvain said, eyebrows shooting up. “C’mon, Ingrid.”

“You shouldn’t have left your ID in your room,” Ingrid said determinedly. “You can go get it yourself.”

“But I can’t get into my room, I have to wait for Felix to let me in, and he’s at track practice, which won’t be over for like an hour and a half…” Sylvain said in a pleading tone.

“You should have thought about that before you left the room without your ID,” Ingrid said, crossing her arms.

“I won’t let it happen again, I swear,” Sylvain said. “But I’m hungry now. And I’ll get you food too and bring it here. Aren’t you hungry? You always get hungry around this time.”

“That is besides the point,” Ingrid said, over the sound of her stomach rumbling.

“You already said yes, Ingrid,” Sylvain wheedled. “I’ll treat you on my meal plan tomorrow.” He turned to Ashe. “That’s fair, right?”

“Oh,” Ashe said. He was momentarily mesmerized by the symmetry of Sylvain’s face. “Right, I guess so.”

“Ashe!” Ingrid scolded.

“Ashe here agrees with me,” Sylvain said, scooting closer and throwing an arm around Ashe’s shoulder, “so it’s two against one, I win. I’ll buy you those guacamole chips you like, ‘kay?”

The weight of Sylvain’s arm ( _he’s very muscular_ , Ashe thought dazedly) was warm through the fabric of Ashe’s shirt, and Ashe could feel his own pulse picking up at the proximity. _Not another straight boy!_ one part of his brain reminded him fiercely.

 _He smells very good_ , a much larger part put in unhelpfully.

Ingrid heaved an aggrieved sigh. “Avocado chips and a vitamin water,” she said, relinquishing her ID card.

“You’re the best,” Sylvain said, hopping out from the bench seat to take the card. Ashe could still feel the phantom heat of his arm. “Be back in a bit!”

“Mm,” Ingrid grumbled as he left.

Ashe watched him go, the broad set of his shoulders in a gray pullover hoodie, his casual yet powerful stride — then he whipped his head to stare at Ingrid.

“You know, Ashe, you really didn’t back me up at all, there,” she told him, frowning. “After all your talk about upholding morals.”

“Well, _you_ never told me that your ‘annoying’ friend Sylvain looked like _that_ ,” Ashe shot back. “He is the _spitting image_ of the Great Knight on the cover of War of Heroes Book 4, and I _know_ you know that that’s my exact type! A little warning would have been nice?”

“Sorry,” Ingrid said a bit sheepishly. “Yeah, I know he’s a good-looking guy… but really, Ashe, Sylvain is scum when it comes to love and dating. Don’t even think about him in that respect — you’re much too good for him.”

“Scum?” Ashe said. That had to be wrong. The word scum did not belong in the same sentence as the masterfully sculpted Grecian statue made flesh that was Sylvain.

“He’s a fuckboy,” Ingrid said bluntly. “You’re just better off not getting involved.”

Ingrid had a point. She knew Sylvain better than anyone, and if she had all that to say about him, it had to be true. And anyway, Ashe knew better than to imagine that he had any kind of chance with Sylvain — guys that looked like _that_ just didn’t go for guys that looked like Ashe.

But when Sylvain had put his arm around Ashe, close and familiar and grinning like that — well. It had been nice, to imagine.

“You’re right,” Ashe said a bit wistfully. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” 


End file.
